The Sinister Way - The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture

1. Auflage 2004
ISBN: 978-0-520-23408-6
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 741 g

The most striking feature of Wutong, the preeminent God of Wealth in late imperial China, was the deity's diabolical character. Wutong was perceived not as a heroic figure or paragon of noble qualities but rather as an embodiment of humanity's basest vices, greed and lust, a maleficent demon who preyed on the weak and vulnerable. In The Sinister Way, Richard von Glahn examines the emergence and evolution of the Wutong cult within the larger framework of the historical development of Chinese popular or vernacular religion—as opposed to institutional religions such as Buddhism or Daoism. Von Glahn's study, spanning three millennia, gives due recognition to the morally ambivalent and demonic aspects of divine power within the common Chinese religious culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Glahn, Richard von

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction
1. Ancestors, Ghosts, and Gods in Ancient China
2. The Han Cult of the Dead and Salvific Religion
3. Shanxiao: Mountain Goblins
4. Plague Demons and Epidemic Gods
5. The Song Transformation of Chinese Religious Culture
6. Wutong: From Demon to Deity
7. The Enchantment of Wealth
Conclusion

Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Richard von Glahn is Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the coeditor of The Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Chinese History (2003) and the author of Fountain of Fortune: Money and Monetary Policy in China, 1000-1700 (California, 1996) and The Country of Streams and Grottoes: Expansion, Settlement, and the Civilizing of the Sichuan Frontier in Song Times (1987).